A liquid crystal display has been finding extended application because of many merits, such as possibility of direct connection to an IC circuit at low voltage and at low power, a wide variety of display functions, high productivity, and possibility of weight saving.
In some fields, however, a liquid crystal display is finding less application due to a limitation of display characteristics. The most serious problem attended by liquid crystal displays using nematic liquid crystals or cholesteric liquid crystals resides in coloring of a display screen and narrowness of the viewing angle.
With respect to coloring, removal of color is not only an essential requirement for color display, as a matter of course, but also a keen demand in monochromatic display, and hence a double-liquid crystal system has been proposed (e.g., JP-A-61-186973) (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application"). However, since the double-liquid crystal system incurs an increased cost, attention has been called to utilization of a single phase difference film having birefringence properties which is obtained by stretching a polymer film.
The liquid crystal display using the phase difference film achieves color removal when seen from the direction vertical to the screen. However, when it is seen from an oblique direction, the disadvantage relating to viewing angle characteristics, i.e., coloring or disappearance of display with a slight change of viewing angle, becomes pronounced. This has been a great problem awaiting solution in using a phase difference film.